


Rebel Coffee

by TheKinkAwakens (thekinkawakens)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, Service Corgi BB-8, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekinkawakens/pseuds/TheKinkAwakens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Poe is a great barista, BB-8 is a service corgi, General Manager Leia only hires veterans, and Hux and Kylo are the customers from hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rebel Coffee

“Hi! Welcome to Rebel Coffee. How are you doing today?” Poe asked with his best tip-earning smile. 

“Large soy chai latte, four shots, 177 degrees exactly,” the man didn’t even bother looking up from his phone. 

“I’m doing well too. The weather today is great,” Poe said as he rung the order up. “That will be six dollars, can I get your name?” 

“Hux,” he said, tossing down the bills and walking away. He hadn’t looked up from his phone once. 

“That guys literally the worst,” Finn said, coming from the back with a box of cups “Last night he came in two minutes before closing, ordered the same drink, and then handed it back to me when it wasn’t the right temperature.”

“Well he’s not getting that satisfaction today, because this drink is going to be perfect,” Poe said. 

 

The drink must have been to Hux’s satisfaction because he became a regular. He would come once or twice a day every day. Poe wasn’t sure about the ethics of giving a man eight shots of espresso a day, but Hux seemed fine, if extremely uptight. Other than his extraordinary tolerance for caffeine the only noticeable thing about Hux was his antisocialness. He managed to avoid answering all of Poe’s friendly questions, and barely seemed to be aware that there were human beings behind the counter making his drinks. Poe didn't mind him, there were certainly worse customers. 

Poe’s favorite duty was table cleaning. He liked the opportunity to get up and move about. He usually ended up talking more than cleaning, but he figured it was part of the customer service. He enjoyed stretching his legs and it was a good chance for BB-8 to get up as well. The other baristas were happy to let him take the duty.

“What is that?” It took Poe a moment to realize that Hux was actually talking to him. Usually when he heard the other man’s voice it was because he was speaking angrily into his phone. He turned to see what Hux was talking about. His gaze was fixed wearily on BB-8 who was currently devouring the bits of blueberry muffin the kids who’d been sitting at the table before had dropped. The fat orange corgi mutt’s tail was whipping back and forth a mile a minute.

“This is BB-8, he’s my service dog. Usually he’s asleep behind the counter. I brought him out to help with the cleaning. He's faster than a broom.” The joke fell flat as Hux just stared at BB-8.

“You named your dog BB-8,” Hux said. BB-8 perked up at the sound of his name and walked over to look at Hux with a curious head tilt. 

“Yeah, it’s what the people at the pound called him since he was in cage BB-8. He was there for a year before I adopted him. Since he’d gotten use to the name I didn’t feel like changing it.”

Poe hid his smile when Hux pointedly moved his legs away from BB-8 who was attempting to get him to pet him. “Go away,” he demanded. “I don’t like dogs.” Poe tried not to laugh at the way Hux was talking to BB-8 like he could understand. Instead BB-8 pointedly put his head on Hux’s chair, staring up at him in excitement. “Aren’t service dogs supposed to be well behaved?” 

Poe took pity on the man and called BB-8 over. “BB-8s trained to deal with PTSD. Half his job is being social and friendly.” Poe had had this conversation plenty of times, he waited for the follow up question that always came. 

Instead Hux just gave BB-8 another disapproving look. “I doubt muffins are good for dogs,” he said curtly before turning back to his phone. Poe shook his head and went back to cleaning. It was the most he’d ever heard the man say at once. 

Poe had decided that Hux just didn’t do social interaction. So he was surprised when Hux came in one day with a tall dark haired man trailing after him, talking to Hux passionately.

“Hi Hux, who’s your friend?” he asked. Both men frowned at him in response. 

“Colleague” the man corrected him. “Kylo. I’ll have a large cold brew with two shots, no ice.” He was looking around the coffee shop with distaste. He turned back to Hux, “I don’t understand why we didn’t just go to the Starbucks across from the office, this place smells like dog.”

“That’ll be $4.50. Where do you two work?” he asked with a warm smile, as if the man hadn’t just been rude as fuck. 

“First Order Security” Kylo answered, glaring at Poe. 

“That’s the private security company over on Estrella right? I’ve heard some of my old air force friends mention it before. You’re not exactly who’d I expect to be working there though.” He made a point of giving Kylo a once over. It was true. The man looked more like he belonged in a pretentious hipster brewery than working with military mercenaries. 

“As if you’d fucking know,” Kylo glared and turned around in a huff. Not the best comeback Poe had ever heard. 

Hux put down a ten dollar bill, not bothering to say his order and turned to follow Kylo. Poe could have sworn the man looked like he was smiling though. He tossed four into his tip jar.

When he turned around he saw that Rey was glaring at Kylo’s retreating form. “I’ll make the cold brew” she said, already reaching for the decaf. 

 

Kylo quickly became their worst customer. He never tipped, was always ridiculously rude, and would leave his empty cups and trash around even though the shop had six different trash cans. 

“Why does he even come here?” Finn whined after Kylo left and ‘accidentally’ tipped over the trashcan by the door. 

“Because our cold brew is a hundred times better than Starbucks, even with Poe and I giving him decaf,” Rey responded from where she was sweeping the mess up.

“Oh,” Finn smiled, “I’m glad that I’m not the only one that does that.”

 

Poe was closing on his own one night when he heard an unexpected sound. A yowling was coming from somewhere. BB-8 perked up, his little butt shaking as he pressed himself against Poe's knees, trying for the ten thousandth time to see past the too tall counter. Poe called out the latte he had made before looking out to figure out the source of the noise. He wasn’t expecting to see Hux wearing a ridiculously expensive cat carrier on his chest like a baby sling, his normally pristine clothes covered in white cat fur. Looking into the carrier Poe saw the angriest looking Persian he had ever seen. 

“Hey cutie, what’s your name?” he asked. Beside him he could feel BB-8 frantically trying to climb up his leg to see who he was making cutesy voices at. 

Hux didn’t look amused. “Her name is Phasma. I want my regular order and a side of whipped cream.” Poe noticed that Hux’s hands were bleeding slightly as he handed his money over.

“Would you like band aid?” he asked as he reached for the whip cream and squirted it into a small container. Now that he was looking closer he noticed that Hux’s hands were covered in small silver cat scratch sized scars. 

“No,” Hux said looking completely unfazed. He took the whip cream and slid it into Phasma’s cage, opening and closing the top hatch as quickly as he could.

Poe couldn’t help but laugh, “I don’t think whip cream is good for cats” he said.

Hux just frowned, “She’s had a long day. Occasional indulgences are acceptable, particularly when they work to counteract negative impressions cats form about necessary rituals like grooming visits.”

“Wow, you’ve really thought the cat whipcream thing through.”

“Of course. I studied the manual she came with extensively,” Hux said. If it was anyone else Poe would have thought he was joking, but his face was completely serious. It would have been cute if Hux wasn’t so Hux. Even then Poe was willing to admit it was a little bit cute.

 

Poe handed him his drink, “Whites a good color on you.” He laughed at Hux's confused expression. 

Kylo and Hux didn’t come in together often, but when they did Poe always took the opportunity to get gossip about Hux. While the man didn’t answer questions about himself, Kylo couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Through him Poe learned that Hux was high up in the administrative side of the First Order, whereas Kylo did field work. Hux had only been transferred to this location three months ago, around the time he first began coming to the shop. 

Poe paused by the table the two men were sitting at as he wiped down the tables. “How are you two doing? Work keeping you busy?”

Kylo just sneered at his attempt at small talk, but Hux nodded, “We’re well. Work has also been well.”

Poe felt a brief moment of pride. He’d worked so hard to get Hux to the point where he could answer basic questions. He even gave BB-8 a curt pat on the head when the chubby corgi waddled over. 

“Good. Can I get either of you a refill on your drinks?” he asked. 

Kylo rolled his eyes, “No. Now if you’re done with your pathetic attempt at flirting with Hux, we’re working. Go clean tables elsewhere.”

Hux was looking pointedly at his phone, ignoring Kylo’s comment. Poe felt his own face heat up. “Right” he said, “BB-8, come.” 

Poe walked back to the register where Finn and Rey were shamelessly watching cat videos on Rey’s phone. “Kylo just accused me of flirting with Hux. Can you believe it? Obviously I was just being nice because it's my job.”

Rey paused the video of cats meowing to Beyonce, “Wait, so you haven’t been flirting with Hux?” Finn also looked confused.

“What? No. Why would you even think that?” Poe asked.

“Well, you always insist on being the one to make his drinks,” Finn said.

“Because he’s picky and ends up sending it back when either of you make it.”

“Uh-huh. And the tables always happen to need cleaning when he’s sitting down?” Rey asked.

“He comes during slow times,” Poe said. Okay, he could maybe see where someone might have gotten the wrong impression. “Ijust want to bring him out of his shell a little. He’s not awful when you get to know him. The last time he brought his cat in he let me reach in the carrier to pet her,” he’d had to wear a band aid for three days afterwards, Hux had shown no sympathy “and just last week when I asked him how he was, he asked me back.” He glared at Finn who looked like he was about to say something, “I talk to all of our customers. I speak to most of them a lot more than I speak to Hux.”

“Right, but you realize he has your schedule memorized. He literally never comes in when you’re not working,” Rey said.

“Really?” He hadn’t realized that. He shook his head, “I still wasn’t flirting with him.” 

“Okay,” Finn agreed. Poe sighed in relief, happy to have the conversation over with. Of course Finn wasn’t done though, “But if you were flirting with him that would be okay. He’s gotten less awful. I mean, I still have no idea what you’d see in him, but he seems really into you so he has good taste if nothing else.” 

Poe just shook his head in frustration and went back to the freezer to get a fresh bag of ice.

 

Things with Kylo eventually came to a head. Poe wasn’t sure what had set Kylo off, but when he came in to start his shift Kylo was standing next to two upturned tables and yelling angrily at Rey and Finn. He saw Rey grab his arm to escort him out. Kylo responded by shoving the woman hard, pushing her into Finn who was standing awkwardly behind her. 

Poe moved quickly to intercede and get between Rey and Kylo before she could regain her bearing. Despite the height difference Poe had no doubt Rey would beat his ass into the ground. While both her and Finn were ex army Finn had left the army after realizing he was a pacifist. Rey had been kicked out after she punched out a commanding officer who’d been harassing women. Poe had also seen her in bar fights. The shop would be destroyed by the time she was through with him.

“Kylo, you need to leave or we’re going to call the cops and press charges,” he said. He pointed at the ancient camera that was mounted on the wall, “and we’ll have more than enough evidence to give them.”

“You think I’m threatened by you?” Kylo was breathing heavy, his face blotchy and flushed in anger.

“I think you can get arrested if that’s what you want. I can’t imagine the police are going to be anymore impressed by a pathetic temper tantrum throwing adult man than we are.”

Kylo went to throw a punch but Finn had gotten behind him and caught his punch, getting him in a restraining hold. Kylo glared daggers at Poe like this had been his plan all along as he struggled in Finn’s grip. Poe reached down and grabbed Kylo’s bag as Finn dragged him kicking and screaming to the door. He tossed the bag at Kylo as Finn dropped him unceremoniously to the ground. “You’re no longer welcome here” he said as he headed back inside. Thankfully the shop had been empty, Finn locked the door as they started to clean up. By the time they opened the door again Kylo was gone. 

 

Poe was taking out the trash at the end of his shift when the men grabbed him, shoving him to his knees. His first thought, as one of them kicked him in the stomach, was that he was glad he had told BB-8 to stay inside. There was no fighting back. There had to be at least five men and they were methodical as they beat him, rotating between kicking him and punching him as he was held down, face shoved into the ground. Even when he did look up it was too dark to see anything. 

He wasn’t sure how long the beating went on before they got up and left him as a group. He was numb as he walked back to the shop. It was only after he’d locked the door and secured all the windows that he acknowledged BB-8 who’d been whining and following him around the shop. He kneeled down to reassure the dog, but his entire body ached in protest. He ended up sitting down, pulling BB-8 in his arms as he cried.

He took four days off. The general manager of Rebel Coffee, Leia, sent him a personal message saying he was more than welcomed to take two weeks off if he needed it. She even offered to have workers from the primary location come and cover for him. He didn’t want to spend a whole week moping though. Finn and Rey worked with the two part time baristas, Jessika and Snap, to shift their duties so no one was taking out trash alone at night. Finn said Leia’s husband Han had personally come to the shop to set up a new security system and better lighting in and around the shop. 

Every change that could be made was made by the time Poe came back to work. He’d switched with Finn to work mornings with Rey for a few days. He was happy to have something to do. The only bad part was answering all of the questions. Every other customer asked about the bruises on his face. Half way through the day he ended up trading positions with Rey so she was working the cashier exclusively while he made drinks. 

His stomach clenched when he heard Hux place his order, but he didn’t turn around. When he turned to call the drink however Hux was already at the pickup station, looking at Poe expectantly. His expression darkened when he took in the state of his face. 

To his credit Hux didn’t ask, though there was tension in his voice as he answered Poe’s question about his day. “The day has been adequate” he paused, “and you?” 

“Fine, it would have been better obviously if I hadn’t gotten the shit beaten out of me the other day when I was taking the trash out, but I’m glad to be back at work.”

“A mugging?” Hux asked, he was frowning openly now. “Is BB-8 alright?”

“Yeah, he wasn’t there when it happened thankfully. And no, it wasn’t a mugging” Poe said, “they didn’t take anything. Some guys just attacked me, I have no idea why.” 

Hux asked him a few more questions about the attack but when Poe confirmed that yes he’d called the police, and no they hadn’t found anything he let the subject go. He let Poe ask him questions instead. Rather than his usual short replies he actually went into detail about what he was working on and his frustration that he had to work with so many people who didn’t understand the First Order’s mission. 

Rey interrupted him in the middle of Hux’s rant about how matters of security belonged in the private sector to pointedly tell him it was his lunch. He grabbed a scone and sat down with Hux as the man drank his chai. Hux was certainly passionate about his job. He didn’t agree with everything the man was saying, but he spoke like he was reciting a dramatic speech. It was a little bit ridiculous, but Poe liked the way he talked

Before he left Hux non subtly asked him what his new shifts were and then showed up twice a day for the next three days. On the fourth day Poe was leaning over the counter to hear Hux’s most recent incident with Mitaka, the least effective intern in the galaxy when Kylo entered the shop, looking for all the world like he belonged there.

“Kylo,” he said tensely as the man approached the counter. “You were told not to come back here.”

“And? Are you going to kick me out? You don’t look like you’re in the condition to do so.” Kylo’s expression was cruel, “it looks to me like you should be avoiding fights for awhile.” 

Kylo looked too proud of himself. There was no reason for him to be so cocky, Poe could still call the cops on him to get him escorted out. Except the last time he had made that threat he’d been beaten hours later. He knew with sudden clarity that it hadn’t been a random event. Of course not. The shop wasn’t near any bars, and people didn’t tend to methodically beat someone for no reason. He could tell from the perfect stillness of Hux that he had come to the same conclusion. 

“Me being a bit scraped up isn’t going to stop me from getting you to leave Kylo,” he said firmly. He wasn’t going to be intimidated into submission.

“Just try,” Kylo said. He looked ready for another fight, Poe felt a rush of hatred for the man.

Hux took a sip of his drink, removed the lid, and upturned the steaming hot liquid onto Kylo’s shirt. 

“Fuck!” Kylo screamed, jerking back. “Fucking hell Hux!” The visible skin where the drink had hit was already turning red. He tore his shirt off, but the liquid had reached his skin, turning his stomach an angry color. Poe knew that color all too well, it was definitely going to blister.

“You should go to the clinic Ren,” Hux said, his expression and voice completely calm. Kylo glared at him, and then at Poe, but he was in too much pain to argue. He left in a huff. 

“I cannot believe you just did that,” Poe said. 

“Accidents happen,” Hux said coldly. Poe shouldn’t have found it hot. The man had literally just scalded someone for him. That wasn’t normal. 

“You two work together, and from what Kylo has said I assume he’s kind of a big deal at the First Order. Aren't you going to get in trouble?” Not to mention a possible arrest for assault.

“Kylo thinks he is more important than he is. He knows if he was to go to our boss about this Snoke would want to know what had provoked the incident. He has more to lose than I do if this was reported.” 

Poe revised his image of Hux as a paper pusher who just happened to work for mercenaries. Hux was vicious. And to his distress Poe was finding out that he was really into it. 

“I should be getting back to the office. He's going to be a terror the rest of the day,” Hux said.

“Wait, let me remake drink real quick” Poe grabbed a new cup. When the drink was done he pulled out a marker and wrote his phone number on the cup, “text me sometime.”

Hux looked startled, but he nodded and took his cup.

**Author's Note:**

> I swore I would never write this type of au, yet here we are. 
> 
> Based off of this prompt  
> https://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/1841.html?thread=3393585#cmt3393585
> 
> Follow me on tumblr at   
> http://thekinkawakens.tumblr.com


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